Fort Morgan students make video about dangers of meth

Recovering addict shares her story with students

ByJENNI GRUBBS Times Staff Writer

Posted:
04/28/2011 12:11:50 PM MDT

Fort Morgan High School students listen as Stacey Jolliff, center, talks about recovering from meth addiction. The former addict told her story for a public service video produced by the FMHS Student Senate, which will be shown in Fort Morgan schools in coming weeks.

"I'll just try it once."

Those were the words, spoken at a party more than 25 years ago, that wound up sending Fort Morgan resident and recovering meth addict Stacey Jolliff into a downward spiral.

Jolliff recently shared her story of addiction and recovery with the members of the Student Senate at Fort Morgan High School. The students also asked 38-year-old Jolliff and her 16-year-old step-daughter questions.

The whole event was caught on film, and it is being turned into a public service video to share with the whole school, and possibly other schools, according to Greg Edson, a social studies teacher and the Student Senate sponsor.

"We were approached by the Colorado Meth Project to something," Edson said. "It just seemed like a really neat project."

"It`s just an awesome thing for the students to be able to do, just the ability to get to listen to the story," he said. "We all see it on TV, but (when) you look her in the eye and see the truth and can be able to put a face to it ... then it impacts the students."

Jolliff told the students she was only 13 that first time, when someone at a party offered her a pipe made out of a light bulb. She took it and smoked meth for the first time.

Afterward, she thought, "I`m never going to do that again."

But, at another party not too long after, Jolliff was raped.

"I wanted to get rid of the feeling, so I got high," she said.

That was her second mistake, and it was the one that clinched her addiction.

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She wound up having a baby, which she gave up for adoption.

Since then, she has had more of her children taken away from her, has cooked and sold meth to children and adults, has stolen from loved ones and strangers alike, has had sex for money to buy meth, has brought girls into prostitution to score meth, has spent years in prison, and is finally getting her life back together.

Part of that involves sharing what all meth did to that life, what it took from her, but also what it gave her -- a chance to help prevent others from making her mistakes.

"I think of this as a wonderful opportunity," she said. "I learned so much, and now, I can share it with you guys."

Right now, she`s on parole and her blood is being monitored for the drug.

"I`m really nervous for when I get off parole and have to do it all on my will power, all on my own," she said.

But she has a goal: being able to get back in touch with the children she lost to the drug.

She knows that she`ll have to work every single day to stay sober to make that possible.

"It`s so easy to get up and walk away, but it`s harder to stay away," Jolliff said. "Every day, I have to work to keep myself centered."

Jolliff told the students she was a straight-A student and cheerleader in high school, at least before the addiction took over her life.

"It can happen to anybody," Jolliff warned the students. "Rich, poor, girl, boy, white black, green -- anybody can get addicted. All it takes is once."

"The only way to get through the trials you`re going through is to keep going," she said. "Drugs will never take them away."

Afterward, the students seemed in awe of Jolliff`s willingness to talk about her experiences, but they said they also learned from what she told them.

"It was really unreal for her to talk about how old she was the first time -- 13," senior Ruben Torresday, 18, said. "Parties that I`ve been to, I don`t see any 13-year-olds there."

Yet, Torresday, who works at a grocery store, said that something she said made him look at an everyday occurrence for him very differently.

"There`s people who just always go in there and buy lighters and tinfoil," he said, adding that they`re usually nervous and twitching, and now he knows why. "It`s really everywhere, and it can happen to anyone."

The take-away for senior Alyssa Fitzsimmons was that everyone needs to get help for their addictions, no matter what they are.

"I think it`s going to send a message to someone out there," she said of the video being made with Jolliff`s story. "She had the guts to come here and share her story, knowing that no one was going to judge her. I really do hope that students listen to this video."

Jolliff said she was thrilled that she got the chance to visit the school and speak with the students.

"It was awesome. I think that the kids will learn a lot from it," Jolliff said of sharing her story. "The kids are very observant. If I touch just one of them, get them to not do it, then it`s worth it."